BBW and the English Nationals

Just read their article... they really didn't like the English Nationals did they? They seemed to use as much space as possible to stick the boot in! Anyway, was it really that bad, or do they just bear a grudge for some reason?

To paraphrase... poor performances, tiny audience, rubbish atmosphere, performances not good enough for the Europeans, rubbish horn players at the start of the piece, too long a day. Generally I got the impression it was a bunch of bands scraping through the test piece to one man and his dog, who may have been barking...

It was nothing like as poor as that report makes it sound from what you're saying.

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It`s clear that the banding "establishment" has no time for the BFBB and its activities.
Remember that the BFBB are made up from ordinary banding folk and it is extraordinary the stick and general lack of encouragement they seem to be getting from the usually benign banding press.
The only BFBB event I have been to was the infamous Torquay lower section finals a few years back,they seem to have recovered from that so why can`t they be left alone to grow and gain experience in running large banding events.
The comment that Grimey`s performance was not good enough for the Euro`s is very disrespectful.

Am I alone in thinking that BBW is not that overly interested in brass bands (or certainly contesting) anymore? I have noticed a significant shift towards featuring orchestral players a whole lot more than was previously the case.

Am I alone in thinking that BBW is not that overly interested in brass bands (or certainly contesting) anymore? I have noticed a significant shift towards featuring orchestral players a whole lot more than was previously the case.

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There has indeed been a shift in editorial policy since Paul Hindmarsh became editor, and a very welcome one too. I actually find myself reading quite a lot of it nowadays. Hindmarsh is very interested in brass bands, but principally for the music, which is a good thing. I for one got fed up reading (or rather, passing over) reams of newsprint giving details of the minutiae of every contest performance.

Not everything is perfect - the magazine seems to have followed the lead of The Brass Herald by dispensing with its readers letters column (although it has to be said that the standard of letter writing was not particularly high); and it seems to be either short of paid adverts or desperately late with its deadlines, given that the magazine always seems to arrive mid-month nowadays. The July issue includes an advert for a Musical Director, the deadline for which was the end of June, the June issue carried an advert for a Grimethorpe concert which had already taken place, and the May issue carried an advert for the European Championships which were by then done and dusted.

And although I don't have the mag in front of me at the moment, I'm sure I read in this issue a report that had Shanklin located in Ireland. I suppose there might be a Shanklin in Ireland, but the one I know is on the Isle of Wight, and it certainly has a brass band! Perhaps the writer was getting confused with the Shankhill Road?

Having now had a chance to read the issue in question, I think the comments so far could have misled people a little. There are actually three references to the English Nationals - Paul Hindmarsh's Editorial, his News Report, and Alan Jenkins' Contest Scene write-up.

In the Editorial, as well as commenting on the fairly small attendance for such a large hall, Paul makes a few suggestions for improvement in response to Robert Morgan's indication that they are open to receive feedback regarding the event. This generally covers points raised in discussions here and elsewhere regarding the timings, audience appeal, ticketing etc.

His News Report concentrates on the first six placed bands, under the headline "Grimethorpe Colliery Band qualify for Europe in style", and is generally favourable towards the playing, whilst commenting on some un-characteristic slips.

The main criticism of the playing, and the value of the event itself comes in Alan Jenkins' typically forthright account, where it seems that neither the music nor performances met with his approval.

Maybe they should carry a debate where the two of them can make their respective points in more detail!

In general terms, BBW does seem to be broadening its appeal to cover certain other areas of brass playing. As a periodical which only appears some ten or so times a year, much of the news which they cover will have already appeared online or via BB before their publication date, so I think they have to adopt a rather different approach. It is obviously still early days in Paul Hindmarsh's tenure, and let's hope things settle down so that we have some real competition out there, with journals which complement each other, rather than simply regurgitating the news and gossip we have already read elsewhere.

Not everything is perfect - the magazine seems to have followed the lead of The Brass Herald by dispensing with its readers letters column (although it has to be said that the standard of letter writing was not particularly high)

I think there is a point that we are getting used to our comments appearing instantly - as on tMP - or fairly quickly, on 4br or similar, and also getting a quick response and dialogue going. That is quite difficult to achieve with a monthly publication and I know I, for one, have tended not to write in lately. You can also be sure that what will appear will be what you actually want to say, rather than an edited version that may or may not convey the same nuances of meaning.